Lord Bassam of Brighton: The information requested is shown in the table. The information provided is for as at 1 April each year. The figures include support staff, as it is not possible separately to identify job roles from the available records.
	
		Full time equivalent communication staff for Cabinet Office
		
			 Management Units 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 
			 Communication Group: Press Officers 11 14 20 1 16 18 8.5 7.5 9 
			 Communication Group: non-press 2 0 5.21 7.65 15 21.64 24.68 31.25 32.8 
			 Government Communication (formerly GICS) 3 5 11 13.67 14.67 17.7 27.06 22.39 20.62 
			 Media Monitoring Unit  7  10 11 13 15 10 
			 Government News Network(4) 111.76 121.49 121.59  
			 Annual Total 18 37.21 50.32 55.67 180.10 194.73 197.73 72.42 
		
	
	Note 1: The Press Office figure for 2000 includes press officers specifically employed to manage the genetically modified foods communications unit which operated from the Cabinet Office between July 1999 to March/April 2000.
	Note 2: Communication Group now provides a central communications resource for the majority of Cabinet Office management units. Some units still maintain their own communication resource, and more did so prior to 2004. It is not possible to provide details for the staff working on communications outside of the main units without incurring disproportionate costs.
	Note 3: The functions of Government Communications and its predecessor GICS have changed significantly over this period. This is reflected in the variations in staff numbers.
	Note 4: From 1 April 2002 to 31 March 2005, the Government News Network (GNN) was part of the Cabinet Office. It is now managed once again by COI. GNN provides a service across the whole of government.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: The latest available information on homicide was published in Home Office Statistical Bulletin number 02/05, Crime in England  and Wales 2003–04: Supplementary Volume 1: Homicide and Gun Crime. This is available from the website www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/index.htm. Information relating to Scotland and Northern Ireland is a matter for Ministers in the Scottish Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly respectively.